What Now?

who: Dean and Oz
where: their house
when: late evening

The wedding had been lovely. Small, of course, considering it needed to be, but nice. Maddie had looked gorgeous, and Oz honestly couldn't remember Billy ever looking happier. The guy, while he'd always professed being a loner? Was really going to take to marriage well, and sure as hell seemed happy about it. Mostly, all that did was make Oz smile. They'd stuck around for dinner and cake, and it had been nice, but eventually, they'd been kicked out. Being pregnant wasn't killing Maddie's libido, that was for certain.

Oz was nibbling on a late snack in the kitchen, sort of contemplating life and everything in it. Where he was now, and how he'd got there, along with the people he held dearest. He'd really liked the ceremony. It gave him a pang. That's what he'd wanted, really, even if that made him sound pretty girly at the end of the day. But he had. The wedding in Vegas had been fine and all, but Billy hadn't been there. Maddie hadn't, the kids hadn't. Also, being there witnessing the way those two looked at one another reminded him of the fact that he'd gotten married because Sophie had been backed into a corner. Not because she'd agreed to any of his million proposals over the years. Their relationship was stable at the moment, and they'd had quite a lot of fun after they'd gotten married, but...today it dredged up buried feelings that hadn't ever gone away...they'd just gotten drowned out for a while. He was standing, leaned back against the counter, sort of staring off into space, lost in his own thoughts.

Dean couldn't deny that he'd been pretty disappointed that Billy and Maddie weren't going to be going off and doing the honeymoon thing. Sure, okay, he knew that Maddie couldn't leave the town, but they could have at least gone and overnighted somewhere else for a change of scenery! not that Dean had suddenly become all romantic and gushy over weddings or anything, but he had a vested interest in getting them out of the house for a while. He wanted that house empty, so he and Thia could play. And he was aware that it was an entirely selfish want, which was why he'd kept it firmly to himself all day, and hidden his disappointment once he'd found out that the happy couple was staying and the rest of them were going home.

Once they were home, the teen had disappeared upstairs, keen to finally get the suit off - the suit which he'd abandoned on his bedroom floor, in favour of an old pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt that had seen better days. That done, he headed back downstairs and into the kitchen - a little surprised to find Oz there. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to the guy. he'd not been entirely sure what to say to him since they'd argued. He'd been grumpy about that whole incident for a day or so afterwards, but then that had worn off, leaving Dean mostly just taking the tack of pretending nothing had happened. But it made him quieter. Plus there was that lasting and nagging guilt Dean was carrying around about destroying everything electrical in the house, and how much Oz had had to fork out to replace it all. And, okay, Dean knew that he'd done the right thing, but knowing something and being able to feel guilty about it weren't mutually exclusive in Dean's world. So, he hovered, in the doorway, not entirely sure what to say. "So, er - nice day," he tried.

Oz had been so deep in his own little world there that he hadn't even caught all the telltale signs that he wasn't alone. Say, footsteps that heralded the teenager, or his scent that entered the room, the sound of him breathing. So, that said something to Oz. He blinked a little, looking up, his gaze drifting up from where it had been on a middle distance, and he took a second to catch up with current events. "What?" he asked reflexively, before he realized that he'd caught what Dean had said, he just had to mentally rewind a little. "...oh. Right. Yes." he corrected himself. "Nice day." he agreed. He wasn't quite sure what to say to the kid either. Dean tended to get pissed about things, and Oz generally just let him be pissed. He usually got over it eventually. This time he'd seemed to decide he was pretending they hadn't argued, or something along those lines, and he still wasn't exactly sure what the real issues had been or why he was at fault. And with everything else going on, he hadn't figured bothering Dean to talk about it again was going to do anything but aggravate the situation and he'd had a little much to do, so he just wasn't prodding at it. Though, now he was faced with him, and apparently Dean was deigning to speak to him today. He also saw that Dean had ditched the dress up clothes, which Oz had done as well. He wasn't overly fond of being all dressed up either. It was nice now and then, but usually just because Sophie liked him when he cleaned up nice. He liked the way she looked at him when he did, but yeah. A guy who liked suits he was not. Maybe it was the inner wolf that tended to protest it, he wasn't sure. But they'd both apparently had the same idea when they got home--change into something more comfortable.

Dean looked his cousin-by-marriage up and down, assessingly. This was a first - if he didn't know who he was talking to, he would have said that he'd surprised the guy. But Oz wasn't a guy who could really be crept up on, not with the 'werewolf' of it all. Dean knew that he had a tendency to walk softly, and he wasn't wearing footwear right now, but still, there were a myriad of other things he knew gave him away. "You okay?" he asked, shoving everything else back as that rose to the surface of his thoughts and right out his mouth.

"Yeah, I..." Oz said, giving a little partially embarrassed half smile as he dragged his hand through his hair and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Just a million miles away I guess." he offered. Which was kind of a lameish excuse, all things considered. But then again, Oz didn't know if he was okay, hadn't expected the question, and wasn't terribly good at hiding anything. He'd gotten much better at not saying anything in the time since Sophie'd got back, but hiding things he still sucked at.

The teen raised an eyebrow. "...Okay," he said, in a tone that said that he really didn't quite believe that. "You... want me to go out and come back in again, cos... Or I could just leave you to it," he offered. In case the guy wanted alone time with his thoughts. It wasn't like Dean desperately needed to be in the kitchen - he wasn't a person who ever got cravings to suddenly raid the fridge or anything. Hell, on a daily basis he had to near enough force himself to eat and drink. It wasn't something he loved, or took pleasure from. It was something that had to be done to keep himself alive.

Oz shrugged. "No, you don't have to." he said, not about to kick Dean out of the kitchen for no reason. Or, just because that had been where Oz had decided to go all introspective on himself. That wasn't Dean's doing, and the kid barely ate anyways. The last thing he wanted to do was discourage anything kitchen related. He pushed off the counter and walked over towards the entry way to look out the windows, debating a walk. Or a run, if he shifted. It was harder to get through the snow by now, but if he kept along the shore, it'd be easier. That was one thing that was nice about living on top of the lake.

Dean watched him, silently, pulling his top lip in between his teeth and chewing on it, lightly. Worry lines appeared on his brow as he didn't move from the doorway, though he swayed back and forth a little as though he didn't know what to do, where to move. "Are you mad at me?" he suddenly blurted out, not able to contain the question, blaming himself inevitably for Oz' reticence.

Blinking, Oz looked back at Dean. "Mad at you?" he asked, clearly surprised. "No? Why would I be?" He couldn't really think of any reason to be angry with Dean. He wasn't necessarily pleased with how things had been lately, but that was dislike of the situation, not anger leveled on a teenager who had a vaguely pissy disposition in the first place and just happened to be prone to things like this.

Dean shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and walked far enough into the kitchen that he could still talk to the guy, but far enough away that there was distance, shoulders hunched a little. "Well, cos I cost you a shed load of money, replacing everything in here?" he suggested, as though that should be plainly obvious. "I'll pay it back. Eventually - just... Add it to everything I owe you," he told him, knowing that that already added up to 'a lot', what with Thia's ID and everything else. But, he wasn't going anywhere, and eventually, he'd be earning, even if a student visa meant that getting a part time job wasn't the easiest of things. Maybe he should think about looking. Maybe Caleb could wangle him a job at Nevermore or something.

"Huh? ...Dean, if I had to pay people back for all the shit I managed to destroy before I got control of the wolf? I'd still be paying people off." Oz said. "Don't even worry about that." he said with a dismissive wave. "I wouldn't take it even if you tried to pay me back, so just...forget about it. None of us are dead. I'm happy." Which was really how he felt about it, and he was a bit blindsided that Dean would consider that he'd be upset over it. Sure, replacing everything was a knock to the savings, but he'd been stupidly well taken care of with just that one little extra dollar Amanda had put on the insurance policy. He was still getting payouts from it. He was covered. They were all covered.

Dean opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again, biting his lip instead. He didn't want to say what came to mind - which was that it was different. He might not always have control, but he had done then. And he should have known what he was doing. He should have been able to control it better. There were loads of should haves and whilst on the one hand he knew he couldn't be expected to work miracles under pressure, and that he'd done the right thing, in the face of Oz being all... whatever he was being, then Dean jumped straight to trying to find a way to blame himself, because from there he could find a way to make amends, he could control the situation. If it was his fault, the he could make it better. Only not, because Oz didn't blame him that way he'd blame himself. It just left him wanting to point out that Oz didn't look happy - except that wasn't quite true either. What the guy looked was distracted, and that could have a million and one causes. "'Kay," he said, at long last, still hunched over, not meeting the werewolf's eyes, keeping his gaze down, nearer the floor, a naturally submissive position for a wolf, though Dean didn't even think about it like that. It was just something that felt natural in the situation.

Oz looked over at Dean, noting the position, and what all the body language said to him. "...are you okay?" he asked, turning the initial question back around. He hadn't thought Dean was still worried about the electrics in the house, so that was surprising. But then again, there was still that bit where Dean had gotten royally upset with him then stopped talking to him at all more or less, so...who knew at this point. Not him.

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, fine," he said. He shouldn't be anything else, after all, if Oz wasn't mad at him for the electrics. It was like everything else - he beat himself up over nothing. Thia would be mad at him, he knew. Or, not mad - disappointed. That was possibly worse.

Oz looked at the boy for a few long moments, exhaling quietly. "You don't really look it." he offered. Which he knew he hadn't likely been looking terribly great either. And the back of his mind was still grinding along on what it had been. He didn't want to be thinking about it. And he would quite like to sweep it all back under the rug where it had been in the first place. Bury it down, and go right back to how his life was. Where he could be happy with his wife, he could deal with...well what the fuck ever, his oldest kid being angry with him, and be happy for his best friend. He could pay the bills and go for a run or play guitar upstairs for a while and be fine. His mind just wasn't in the right place to do that at the moment...and Dean was there, so he was making a kind of attempt to figure out if he was okay or not, and not inflict his issues elsewhere. It wasn't like any of it was Dean's fault.

Dean was tempted to just reply with an affirmation of 'I'm fine' again and leave it at that, but the months of having a female best friend were taking their toll and the guy was less likely to just leave shit anymore. It felt odd. "You don't look it either - you weren't even aware of me before I said anything, were you?" he challenged instead, though his gaze only just reached Oz' as he said it. He was ready to be right the fuck back down again if he was challenged in return, that much was clear.

Well, he couldn't argue that one. So, after meeting Dean's gaze a moment he glanced away. "No. I wasn't." he conceded. He was looking back out the window. "There's a lot on my mind." he added. Which was true! It was just all shit he would much rather eradicate entirely from his brain. Too bad thought-lobotomies couldn't be performed. Wait, could they? Maybe he needed to find a really good telepath... and wow, that's not fucked up or anything.

Dean pulled his hands out of the pockets of his jeans and hovered for a moment, before thrusting them into the back pockets. "Er - anything you... Anything I can help with?" he offered, trying not to feel uncomfortable with the fact that Oz wouldn't meet his eyes, even though he'd been doing exactly the same thing. It was different, coming from Oz.

It took a second for Oz to figure out how to answer that. "It's just...issues, I guess. Old wounds." he answered, trying to play it off, though he wasn't sure how well he did. "Nothing to do with you or anything, just...old shit I thought I was over." Then he winced faintly. "Or, that's probably not true. Shit I thought was buried a little deeper than it was." he amended.

Dean hovered, feeling that whole 'I should probably go leave the guy alone' instinct again. He swayed slightly on the spot and left his answer slightly too long. "Erm - you, er... wanna talk about it?" he offered, feeling really very self-conscious.

The whole self conscious thing was painfully obvious, and Oz quirked a half smile. "You don't have to sit and listen to me talk about things that can't be changed. You don't exactly seem like it was on your agenda tonight." he said, letting him off the hook. His tone was light, good natured, even. "I appreciate the offer, though." he added on at the end. He was genuine with it. He did. He didn't know if he could talk to Dean about any of this anyways. A bit of it did focus on his cousin, after all.

Dean shrugged. "Didn't have anything else on my agenda," he offered. "Well, other than getting changed. Sophie likes suits, doesn't she?" he offered, as a lighter alternative for a topic of conversation. He'd noted that oz had changed as well.

"Yeah, she does." Oz agreed. "I don't really like being dressed up much, though. I mean sometimes it's okay, just not really my thing." he explained. "I'd wager Thia likes them too." he added. Thia had looked a whole lot like she appreciated Dean being dressed up. But then again, Thia had looked like she'd had a good time. Billy's addition of having a sign translator at the ceremony had been a stroke of brilliance.

Dean ducked his head and smiled slightly. "Thia likes a lot of things," he said with a shrug, but he could agree with the comment. She'd told him earlier how much she liked him dressed up like that - it just hadn't been enough to make him want to hang around in the damn thing once they'd got home. "But - felt like I was back in school uniform again," he added. He'd quickly got used to not having to wear a shirt and tie every day, that was for sure.

Oz quirked a light little smile. "She seems like a girl who's pretty easy to please." he said. Which was true. And the hesitance he'd had before about the two of them being together were gone entirely by now. Hell, he didn't even hear them fighting anymore, really. They seemed very happy. That was what was important to Oz. "And huh. Right. Never went to a school where one had to do the uniform thing." he said. Public school it was, and public school meant no uniforms. Which made him realize he didn't actually know if public school over there was all uniforms or if Dean had attended a private school. There were a few around Marquette, but mostly they were religious.

"Yeah, she is," Dean agreed, though he knew that he sometimes thought that he should be doing more, that she wasn't as happy as he would like her to be, as he thought she deserved to be. But, she definitely was easy to please, that was for sure. "Count yourself lucky - the uniform thing's... Yeah, not really a fan," Dean admitted, wincing a little.

"I'll do that. Pretty sure I wouldn't have fared that well with that kind of environment." Oz said. But then again, Oz wasn't sure about anything more rigid than what he'd dealt with when he was in school. He'd been the freshman who'd hit on juniors and wasn't always turned down. He'd been a musician, pretty easy going and if one discounted the creepy werewolf stalker tendencies, pretty fun loving and the like. At least, until the whole play thing and getting 'married' and whatnot. After that everything changed. And for just a moment, Oz had a pang for the loss of who he used to be. Which was really the first time he'd ever felt that.

Dean shrugged once again. "Got expelled," he pointed out, about himself. He hadn't done too well in that kind of environment either, though that had had little to do with the fact they made you wear uniform. Dean just wasn't a guy who excelled in a school environment, end of story, and things had been going wrong enough for him to depart from his usual method of just keeping his head down and trying to be invisible. Somehow, he'd never managed to get back to that again, though these days he was trying a different route and, mostly, that was working for him.

"Really? I hadn't known that." Oz said. He knew that there'd been trouble, but not the specifics, so much. And really, when he'd talked to Dean's parents on the phone and such, that hadn't been the subject they'd been discussing so it hadn't come up. "Well, so far, so good here, then. No uniforms, and you haven't been expelled." he offered. It was a step up, he imagined.

Dean was surprised at that - he'd figured that his parents would have told Sophie and Oz everything. But, then again, maybe they'd been worried that he wouldn't be taken if the couple had appreciated what they were letting themselves in for. That was a depressing thought, all things considered, and left Dean with a slightly hollow feeling. "Yeah - for causing trouble. Getting into fights. Wasn't... I deserved it," Dean admitted, not trying to give excuses for that. He had deserved it, he'd been a little shit and he knew it. He lifted his eyes to Oz'. "It won't happen here," he promised. He wasn't the same guy here, he knew that. It was all different, he had a different life here. He could be a different person. He was a different person.

"Wasn't worried it would." Oz said honestly. Because really, he wasn't. If things were going on, he figured they'd know, and they'd talk to him, and either it'd get worked out, or they'd figure something else out. Like his whole leaving school thing. He now had an out that if he absolutely had to leave, he had to call Oz so Oz could call the school and get it excused. End of problem. "I trust you." he added belatedly on the end, because he still did. But maybe Dean needed to hear it again if he was offering up the whole 'it won't happen here' thing.

Dean nodded a little. "Yeah, I know," he offered, because he did know that. He didn't always think he deserved it, but he was trying to. He really really wanted to deserve Oz' trust, which brought him full circle back to the argument they'd had, though Dean had been trying not to go there. He didn't say anything for a few moments, then he crossed to shut the kitchen door, closing out the rest of the house, his heart hammering as he wondered if he was actually going to step up and address issues. Yeah, he really thought that he was. "About the other day - by the beach. About Thia..." he started. "Since... Since she first died, I've - she's had a tendency to discount herself. I mean, I've talked with you about that before, but..." He paused and started again once more. "When I brought up her blood the other day - when you went straight to how we could 'use' that... She's a person. She's not a weapon. And she might think that that's like... that she's... that she could be useful that way, that she could count. I see her as a person. More than anything. I don't... I don't like it when people are reduced down to what they can do. How they can be used. Not her, not me, not you. Nobody. And - you went right there, Oz. Straight away..." His tone wasn't confrontational, he didn't even raise his voice. He just wanted to explain, he wanted Oz to understand. "...It just pissed me off, that's all," he ended, with another shrug of his shoulders.

Oz took a minute to answer him, not at all surprised about Dean saying he'd been pissed, because he'd definitely caught that the first time. It had been fairly loud and clear, even. "I know it did." he said first, because that was the most obvious thing. He also went through and really tried to recall exactly what had been said to him at the time. And then he landed on his own logic with things, or at least, the thread his thoughts had taken. "One of the first things you said was that her blood was poison, and the example you used was the vampire who bit her was killed because of it." he said, tone light. He didn't say more than that, wanting to either let Dean puzzle out the logic on his own, or at least process before he said anything further.

"And...?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at that. he stopped himself, not wanting to get annoyed again, not when he'd started this to talk things through. "I - How was I meant to start? Yes, I started with her blood being poison. She was really upset about finding that out, you know," he said, as though prompting. "She was afraid about what it would mean. She was afraid that... When I told her I'd told you, she wanted to know if she was being sent away. Yes, her blood is toxic - but that doesn't mean that the first concern is that she can be used as a weapon." He paused, and continued in a quieter voice. "My first concern isn't, anyway."

"...you're getting really defensive." Oz said lightly. "I'm saying that the first thing you told me is that her blood can drop vampires really fast and effectively. Vampires that had us under house arrest for days on end, nearly killed Joshua, and did kill Thia. And I know that you aren't going to forget that. I'm never forgetting it either, Dean. You didn't have to see her. I did. And if there's anything out there that can kill the things that did that to her? I'm not going to overlook it. They aren't easy to kill. If they had been, we would have been a lot safer, and the town would have had a lot fewer funerals. I just..." he sighed, and looked back at Dean again. "I don't really see where else my head was supposed to go there, when you put it like that. I'm not saying that you should have put it another way, I'm just explaining how I got where I did." he said. "It was right there in the way it was presented. I'm sorry if you're offended by it. I didn't mean any offense, and I would really hope you'd know that nothing would go on without Thia's consent. And that she's never going to boil down to being just an anything. Not a weapon, or anything else either. She's never being sent away. First concern with her is her being safe. All of us being safe. I'm just practical enough to know that her blood could help ensure that, and I wasn't going to not mention it. Particularly when I had no idea you were going to take it so personally. I'm not psychic. I didn't know."

"She's my girlfriend and you put the uses of her blood above her wellbeing - how could I not take that personally?" Dean exclaimed, before clamping down on himself. He took a breath and let it out, running a hand through his hair. "It was that," he said, his voice more controlled, though he clearly had to work at that. "It wasn't... It wasn't that you thought of it at all. It's that you thought of that first. I... I know things aren't great. And I know nothing's perfect and it's not going to be. I know - I know there's a really high likelihood that everything's going to just get worse from now on. But - I worry. I worry that we're all just going to get to a point where what we see in each other is how we can use each other. And even if we do that in the name of keeping each other safe? We're still doing it. And we'll have lost something." He didn't know how else to explain that, but it made sense in his head. He didn't want to become that jaded, he didn't want to lose anyone along the way, even if they were all still alive. To him, that was as important as just living.

"How?" Oz asked. "How did I put uses of her blood above her wellbeing?"

"Because when I told you, the first thing you went right to was how you could use her blood to kill things. No questions about how she was, or whether she was dealing with this huge thing that she'd just found out. You could have shown some concern about her. As a person," Dean told him.

Oz took another moment before he answered, sighing. "Right before we were talking about what her blood did, you'd been telling me that she'd contacted you and you went to her because she was upset about things. And I asked then. I was worried about her, you told me she was okay." he said, holding onto his patience. One thing he realized was he had a lot more patience for the kids than he did Sophie or Billy. Probably the shift in role in his life. It was odd, though, at times. "I trusted what you told me."

They were back to trust again, and Dean looked away. He wanted to be trusted, and then when he was, he didn't want to be trusted any more. He knew that made no sense at all - it didn't even make sense for him. "Then I overreacted," he said, backing down entirely. "I'm sorry."

"I don't know if you did." Oz said. Because even if it probably didn't make total logical sense? Oz still got it. He still understood on some level. "I think it's the kind of stance that someone who cares about someone as much as you care about her is supposed to take. I think you're trying to watch out for her and you're going to take things badly from time to time because of that. And that's not a bad thing. Keeps everyone else on the level." he said. "If you're looking out for her best interests, and you don't think they're being met...then yeah. You say something. And you don't have to apologize for that. That's not something to be sorry about." He paused, and gave a light half smile. "And nothing is that rational when it comes to something that powerful. If it was all rational and untangled, and everyone always reacted exactly rationally in every situation, the world would be a pretty strange place. I don't think I'd want to live there. I know I'd have no place. I sure as hell aren't rational all the time. ...possibly I'm less than rational at least sixty percent of the time, and that's probably understating it."

"I just don't want her to be seen as a weapon. I don't want her to think that that's her only value in life. That other people think that's her only value." And Dean was sure that she would think that, if treated like that, if left to herself. He could see the tendency - he'd lived with it himself his entire life, after all.

"She's never going to be a weapon. She's a person. She's pack. She's family." Oz said. "She's worth a hell of a lot more than just what her blood could be used for, and like I said before, if anything happened? It'd be up to her. At no point would she not have a choice in things, and no matter what she can bring to the table, she'll never be boiled down to just that. She's Thia. All that is is something new we know that has practical applications, if she's okay with it. That's all."

"I know," Dean said - because no matter what anyone else thought, he would make damn sure that that was the case. It calmed some inner part of him though, knowing that Oz agreed with him in that. It helped.

"Good. We okay then?" Oz asked, not sure if they were or not. But he figured he could ask, and Dean would either tell him yes or no. If it was no, he'd keep working at it. He hoped it would be, though. He didn't like being at odds with anyone. Even if he had a bad habit of bringing out what was possibly the worst in people sometimes, that didn't mean he liked it.

Dean nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, though it wasn't with any great enthusiasm. Though part of that at least was simply because he hated fighting with people he cared about, and he always wished it had never happened, after the event. It left him always trying to find a way to blame himself for what had happened, because that made it easier to forgive the other person. If it wasn't their fault, they were blameless, and Dean could forgive them and move on.

"Good." Oz said, noting that Dean didn't exactly sound thrilled or anything, but Dean rarely sounded thrilled. Enthusiasm was a rare thing in Dean, so he hadn't expected it here either. He was going to take it, though, because he wanted to. With the other shit that had been plaguing his mind he was ready for something to be going right. He looked back out the window again, and once more considered taking off for a while. Avoidance, sometimes it was his new best friend.

Dean stood there for a moment, watching Oz looking out of the window, wondering if that was a tacit dismissal. "I, should, er..." he said, hesitantly, taking a step or two back and glancing toward the kitchen door. He trailed off, waiting to see if Oz would fill in the rest.

"Huh...oh. Yeah. Think I'm going out for a while. So...if your cousin asks or anything, that's where I disappeared to, alright?" he said, looking back at Dean. Yeah, his mind was already crowding in more with the thoughts he'd been bogged down with earlier. He might be out for a long run.

"Sure," Dean nodded, starting to take another step backwards and then swaying back onto his front foot again. "Oh, erm - Oz? I... Not today, but - sometime soon, can I talk to you about something?" he asked, knowing that was a pretty vague question, but he wanted the guy to have an out, since he was leaving right now.

Focusing back on Dean, Oz frowned slightly. "Yeah, 'course you can." he said. "...I've got time now, you know." he added. Mostly, he didn't like anything hanging. Knowing something was wrong or something needed to be discussed, but not actually knowing what it was or getting to it always bugged Oz. He tended to overly focus on things like that. It needled at him, which he never dealt with especially well. It lead to things like pacing, and other 'drive everyone nuts' activities.

Dean shook his head. "Today's probably not a good day - it can wait," he said, oblivious to Oz' niggling tendencies. He knew he wanted to talk about lessons, and about people learning to defend themselves. He just didn't think Billy and Maddie's wedding day was a particularly appropriate day to bring up the fact that they were occasionally pretty dire in that whole 'being able to use weaponry' department.

Oz made a face. "It's going to bother me if you don't tell me what's up." he admitted. Because it would, and then he'd just go about that driving people nutty thing. There was the whole comparison to a caged animal thing that had been made once or twice before in his time.

Dean winced slightly and hoped he could put this in an acceptable way. Maybe if he just asked, but didn't go into detail or, say, he reasons behind anything. "I was wondering if we could maybe set up some group teaching sessions," he started. "All of us - you, me, Thia, Sophie, Billy Maddie - and my friend Caleb, maybe his girlfriend, Nic? Defence and stuff. Since things aren't... Since, well, with everything. It would be good if everyone knew how to do things. basic firearms training, some hand to hand, maybe. Some first aid possibly, just... Stuff. I think - I think it would be a good idea. And I think you're the best person to do it," Dean told him, managing to keep the explanation to a minimum and not say anything bad about anyone.

Listening, Oz couldn't fault the logic. He wasn't sure everyone would agree to it, but he could definitely ask. "Not sure people will agree, but I'd be happy to do it. One thing though. Caleb and Nic?" he asked. "Do they know about Thia? Would it be safe for her?" he asked. If they knew, fine, if not, then that was either going to have to be handled really damn carefully, or something else was going to have to be arranged. Just because the girl's dad wasn't out there anymore didn't mean bad things couldn't happen to the girl if it started getting around that she wasn't quite dead.

"Caleb does. Nic - doesn't, but she would be a later edition anyway. There's... I'm not happy to have her involved just yet. But, eventually, that would be the plan. And..." Dean hesitated, aware that he'd been called 'defensive' earlier on and wanting to avoid that. "I think that people should agree." He said, carefully. "It... Only makes sense. All things considered. I think... People should do it." It was a slightly more measured and tactful reply than 'why the hell would people not agree to it - are they stupid?', which would have been the beginning of a rant, if he'd had his way.

"Well, I agree that people should agree, but I can't make anyone do anything." Oz said. "Your cousin hasn't ever shown any inclination towards learning anything like that, and Billy...well. We've kind of all been telling him for years he should learn at least something, but he so far hasn't, really. ....Maddie I imagine would be on board entirely. She's a protector, she'd be good with learning anything that'll help her out in that. Why do you not want Nic involved yet? And okay, Caleb knows, I'm assuming things would be explained to the girl before she got here or involved in anything..."

"I don't want Nic involved, because if she's going to be involved, then I want her to be able to be properly involved," Dean explained. "And I want to be sure that she's okay with everyone, and who they are, and... what they are. Because I don't want to be connected with training someone to fight who isn't okay with people. But, I don't want to rush things either - with her. So... She'll know when the time's right, and then she can join in." Dean kept it vague. He'd given everything a whole lot of thought and that was clear. He just missed out that the bedrock of Nic coming on board was the stipulation that she knew about Caleb. Of course, Dean hadn't told anyone else other than Thia about his friend's ancestry, and he wasn't holding any of the rest of them to that knowledge of information, but Nic was much more of an unknown quantity to him. Plus, he'd talked to the girl and that was reason enough for him to worry, in Dean's mind.

Oz got the gist of what Dean's point was, and therefore he was good with it. "Okay, well, just let me know when she's going to be added to the roster." he said. "And if she isn't, she isn't, and no big deal. I'll talk to people about the whole...learning things thing." he added. "...possibly after a few days though, I don't think Billy's going to be botherable at least for a bit. Then I'll talk to people."

Dean shrugged. "I know today's not the day - that's why I said it could wait," he pointed out. It had waited this long, and it had originally been going to wait longer, save for the fact that Thia had pulled him up on waiting for Caleb and he'd been mulling on that one quietly ever since.

"Right. You did." Oz said. He'd been the one to push the point, because he was like a little kid when it came to patience on that score. "I'll let you know soon then." he said. Yeah, he had no idea how that was going to go. Or what frame of mind he'd need to be in to get it going properly, if people told him to fuck off. He could definitely see the merits of it, after all. It was probably for the best, and likely something that should have been done a long time ago. Still, though.

"Thanks," Dean said, taking that step back finally. "So, erm - enjoy your walk," he added. "Run, er - yeah, enjoy."

Oz gave a little almost-laugh that didn't quite make it. "Thanks. I'll try." he said, knowing he wouldn't, really. He was just getting away. Which seemed like how he dealt with most of his shit lately. It didn't feel right, but then again, what was making him unhappy in the first place didn't feel right either, so what could a guy do? Not a lot.

Dean frowned again. "You... Sure you're okay?" he checked, fairly sure the guy wasn't, but it wasn't his place to pry either. For Dean, in this relationship, Oz was the parent, he was the child - it didn't matter that there was actually only three years between them, it set a level for communication and that held Dean back from pushing too hard.

"...I wish all of you could have been at our wedding." Oz said. Which wasn't an answer, really. But it was something. It was one of the things that had been bothering him, even if it didn't get into the deeper underlying issues that were nibbling at him. "I wanted you there. You, Thia, Maddie...Billy was supposed to be my best man. Had that picked out years ago. Which--I know. Is probably fucked up, or really incredibly girly of me or something. But..." He shrugged, not sure what else to say.

Dean shrugged a shoulder. "You could always do it again," he suggested. "I mean - I know you've got the paper and everything, but that's just legal, right? I'm sure you could get someone to do the whole ceremony thing again. If it means something to both of you, then it doesn't matter that it's already done. Wouldn't think so anyhow. I mean - Billy and Maddie. Today... I mean, legally, they're not really married, are they? Since Maddie's ID's all fake and stuff. But that doesn't really matter, does it? Today was for them and they both looked happy, so..." He trailed off.

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean the same thing to her as it does to me." Oz said, before he could think better of it. Then he winced faintly. "Don't repeat that, okay?" he asked, thinking this was why he hadn't said anything in the first place. Because this was not a problem that had a solution, he didn't really need Dean thinking that things weren't okay between the people providing his home, and if there were issues, Dean would come down on Sophie's side...right?

Dean didn't really know what to say about that - it definitely wasn't an answer he'd expected. "I won't say anything to her," Dean promised, not knowing what else to say to that. He knew that Oz and Sophie argued - you could hardly miss that, but he really tried not to get involved. He didn't want to be involved - he might make things worse. He definitely didn't want to make things worse. She was his cousin and Oz, well Oz was really important to him.

"Thank you." Oz said. "Probably shouldn't have said anything in the first place. So...sorry. It'll be fine." he said. His tone was kind of hard to read though, it left everything unclear, whether he believed that or not. In his own mind, he knew he wasn't ever going to leave her. That was just the way it was. He'd resigned himself to that a long time ago. Even if he'd never ever gotten what he wanted, he'd have stayed. "Like I said before...old wounds. So...I'm going to go for a run and not inflict it on anyone else. Sorry." he repeated.

"Don't be - I'll see you later," Dean said, taking another step back, before he turned and walked away, wanting to give the guy space. Space seemed like the best thing right now. Dean didn't think he had anything else to offer.

Oz watched Dean go, then drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Right. Out. That was the best plan. He prepared and shifted, then headed out, tugging the door shut with the little rope knot that was around the doorknob so he could do just that. Then it was out into the dark and snow, where he could give another shot at outrunning the circles his mind kept going in.